Razor guard



, Dec. 13, 1966 A. J. HICKERSON RA Z OR GUARD Filed May 22, 1964 INVENTOR. Alva J. Hickerson ATTORNEYS 3,290,778 RAZOR GUARD Alva'J. Hickerson, 900 Petroleum Club Bldg., Denver, Colo. Filed May 22, 1964, Ser. No. 369,410 1 Claim. (CI. 30-90) My invention relates to protective shields for mechanical device and more particularly to an improved protective shield for safety razors.

Safety razors are frequently put aside or stored with the blade in place; thus when the razor is not in use it may be brushed by the hand or scraped by other objects and there is thus a danger of cutting the hand or of cutting or scraping other objects which come into contact with the blade. The availability of stainless steel blades has made storage of razors without removing the blades more frequent, such blades being left in the razor without handling in order to increase the usable life of-the blade. Various forms of razor guards have been provided heretofore, and have proved useful for various purposes, but they have not been entirely satisfactory for all applications. Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide an improved guard for safety razors which is simple in construction, durable and easy to use.

It is another object of my invention to provide an improved guard for safety razors which will protect persons from accidental cuts while also protecting the blade from damage upon contact with adjacent objects.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an improved guard for razor blades which is easily applied and removed and which is not bulky.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

Briefly, in carrying out the objects of my invention in one embodiment thereof I provide a body in the form of a hollow case or housing of pliable plastic material shaped to conform generally to the configuration of a safety razor head. I further provide an elongated opening or slot extending centrally of one side and through the ends of the case; this opening divides the case into two connected halves and allows the back wall of the case to be bent thus providing a hinge between the two halves. This affords easy application of the guard to and its removal from the head of a safety razor. I also provide tabs or lugs along the opening so that the guard may easily be held and spread over the razor head without having ones fingers contact the blade.

For better understanding of my invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a protective shield embodying my invention suitable for use on a safety razor of the double edged type;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the access side of the protective shield shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an end elevation view of the protective shield shown in FIG. 1 showing it while being placed in position on a razor blade.

Referring now to the drawing the guard or shield illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 is in the form of a generally hollow body 10 which is constructed of pliable material such as rubber or a suitable plastic which is tough and durable but may easily be flexed. The hollow body 10 is constructed to fit the configuration of a safety razor of the double edged type and comprises an open top or access wall 11 having an elongated or slotted longitudinal opening 12 centrally thereof of a a United States Patent suflicient width to accommodate a razor handle as indicated in FIG. 3. The opposite or back wall 13 of the guard which is the face or back wall shaped generally to configuration of the face of a safety razor presenting a generally smooth cylindrical external surface. The access wall 11 and the opposite or back wall 13 are joined along their sides by rounded edges 14 and are connected at their ends by end walls 15 thereby forming a pair of oppositely facing pockets each defined by a top wall 11, end wall 14, and side wall 15. The end walls are provided with vertical 'slots 16 which extend from the surface of the wall 11 down to the inner side of the back wall 13. It will thus be apparent that the case may be bent or hinged above a line extending across the back wall between the ends of the slots 16. The thickness of the body is indicated generally by the dotted lines in FIGS. 2 and 3 and is sufficient to assure protection of.=the razor head should it strike an object or be dropped. The inner surfaces of the guard are made smooth and of a configuration to hold the razor head firmly. When it is desired to place the guard over a razor head the two halves of the guard are separated by bending the guard along the line between the slots 16 so that the razor may easily be inserted in one-half of the guard as shown in FIG. 3; the other one-half is then flexed or bent outwardly over the edge of the razor and is seated around the remaining half of the razor. In order to protect the fingers of the user and facilitate the gripping of the guard and its positioning on the razor head the top wall 11 is provided with two outwardly extending longitudinal tabs or lugs 17 which extend along the edge of the opening 12. It will readily be apparent that these tabs will prevent contact of the fingers on the edge of the blade when the guard is being positioned on a razor head and also when it is being removed. The material of the guard is sufliciently pliable that it may easily be stretched over the razor head by the bending of the back wall 13 spreading the opening 12 so that relatively little additional distortion of the guard is required. The smooth inner walls of the guard assure positioning of the razor head so that a blade in position thereon will not be damaged. Since it is a normal practice to put the razor aside after use while it is still wet it is desirable to provide openings to allow drainage of Water and the circulation of air and permit the razor to dry. For this purpose openings 18 are provided along edges 14 and extend into the interior of the case.

A razor head guard constructed as shown may be made to conform closely to a razor head and thus is not bulky and does not materially increase the overall dimensions of the head. The guard may be molded so that its interior walls conform to various razor heads while the outer dimensions remain the same. It will be noted that the end walls 15 slope inwardly away from the center toward the edges .14; this slope of the inner sides of the end walls will provide a wedging action for razor heads which are sufficiently long to engage the sloping ends, thus a single guard may be employed if desired for a number of different shapes of razor heads having suflicient length to fit between the sloping ends of the guard; the flexibility of the guard material affords a gripping fit at the ends and allows considerable tolerance for the length of heads which will fit in the guard. Thus, although for some applications a fairly exact fit of the razor may be desired, for others the construction may be such as to accommodate razor heads of difierent dimensions.

The smooth rounded exterior of the guard minimizes the likelihood of injury to objects struck by the razor,

the blade and any sharp corners of the razor head being covered by the plastic material.

Although I have illustrateda specific embodiment of my invention, various modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, I do not desire my invention to be limited to the specific details illustrated and described and I intend by the appended claim to cover all modifications which fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

A protective guard for a safety razor comprising a pliable plasticbody formed to provide a smooth wall generally conforming to the face of the head of a razor, said body being formed to provide a pair of oppositely facing pockets on one side of said well, and facing each other to accommodate and cover respective sides of a safety razor head and leaving an opening between them to accommodate the handle of a razor, said pockets having separate end walls forming together the end walls of the body to cover the ends of the razor and slotted to afford bending of said smooth wall along its central axis to initially separate said pockets, each of said pockets having its interior end walls sloping from the opening References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 311,466 2/1885 Brokhame 3090 875,274 12/1907 King 309O X 1,957,065 5/1934 Hueber 3090 2,320,807 6/1943 Upham 3090 2,372,280 3/ 1945 Johnston 309O 2,695,448 11/ 1954 Cavanaugh 3090 3,172,202 3/ 1965 Sooter 30-90 3,177,582 4/1965 Curtis 3090 FOREIGN PATENTS 477,564 10/ 195 1 Canada. 234,185 12/ 1944 Switzerland.

20 WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

MYRON C. KRUSE, Examiner. 

